Career Musings

Over the past three months, I have noticed a certain phenomenon, probably I should label it “the 17-year itch”.

First, it was my friend Janet, who told me that after 17 years with a company, she was laid off. It worked out as a blessing in disguise as it has allowed to pursue another career – real estate.

Second, it was Brad who called to enquire about career coaching. He too, had spent 17 years in waste management, and wants to leave the company.

Third, it is Belinda, a client I am currently coaching. She has spent 17 years in administration, but with the same company. She believes it’s time to peep from behind the doors of her company to see if the grass is greener on the other side.

Fourth, a woman who worked as an Employment Counsellor with Human Resources Development Canada for 17 years. She was laid off and is looking for advice on entrepreneurship. She may want to start a Career Consulting business.

Fifth, Brian came to see me today. He spent 17 years as a Press Operator and was laid off in March. He’s looking for a career change – would love to own his own heating and air-conditioning business.

Is it a coincidence that in 3 months I have met 5 people who, after 17 years in one career, have either been forced out, downsized, rightsized or laid-off, or the others voluntarily decided that 17 years is a long time to spend in one career, and it’s time to move on?

I’ll chalk it up to coincidence!

May 27, 2005: Just returned from Career Professionals of Canada’s first Professional Development Day, and what a day it was!

Held at StageWest in Mississauga, attendees were primarily career coaches/counsellors, leadership/ organizational development specialists, resume writers and HR representatives from one of the major banks. For one full hour Julie Fulford of Coaching Solutions discussed the art of effective listening and questioning. She focused on how and when to ask open and closed-ended questions; how to paraphrase, reflect and summarize to make sure that we hear and understand what our clients are saying.

Deborah Foster-Stahle then facilitated the cracker barrel/roundtable session, where participants shared best practices in career coaching, interview strategies, raising professionalism, resume strategies and business building. It was an engaging session and I can’t wait to get the summaries.

After lunch, the Recruiter Panel consisting of Carolyn Kirby of Pivotal (Action Force) Solutions, Pat Rowan of Feldman-Gray and Zag Dutton of Career Connections Inc, faced an inquisitive audience wanting to know about Canadian Trends in Recruitment. How effective are job boards, what do employers look for in a resume, should a cover letter accompany the resume, are handwritten cover letters still acceptable? What’s the dress code for an interview? Does an online job application eliminate potential candidates? The questions went on and on. Again, another enlightening session.

Finally, it was time to learn how to market and sell our services, and who among us wouldn’t want to learn those skills. This session was facilitated by Deborah. She showed us a graph which compared the old way of selling where closing the deal was the focus. Nowadays, if we focus on building trust and understanding the client’s needs, closing is easier.

As usual, the food at StageWest was excellent. I deliberately did not count how many chocolate-covered strawberries I managed to eat.

Yours-truly chaired the program and had a blast doing so! Can’t wait for next year’s.